


The Little Doctor

by holtzy_baby



Category: Doctor Who, Thasmin - Fandom, Thirteenth Doctor - Fandom
Genre: Child, Child Doctor, Cute, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Oneshot, Sweet, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-19 11:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17000997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holtzy_baby/pseuds/holtzy_baby
Summary: “Is that— a child?” Ryan gaped.“It can’t be...” Graham said.“It’s her. It’s The Doctor.” Yaz felt faint.***Or: The Doctor accidentally turns herself into a child and it’s up to Team TARDIS to figure out what’s happened and how to get their Doctor back.





	The Little Doctor

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first fic, I hope you enjoy! I’ve loved reading the fics on here so I wanted to contribute with my own.
> 
> Some aspects of the Doctor’s past may not be canonically correct. I decided to express my artistic license rather than be too meticulous and take longer to post so just take it with a pinch of salt!
> 
> Enjoy the fluff-fest! And please be nice! :)

“Is that— a child?” Ryan gaped.

“It can’t be...” Graham said.

“It’s her. It’s The Doctor.” Yaz felt faint.

* * *

_The alien box was covered in intricate designs. The ridges were fascinating and The Doctor couldn’t help but run her fingers over it. The item had fallen from a height when they were running from the Askaloids and hit Ryan. After his initial ‘oof’, he’d retrieved the curious small box and brought it into the TARDIS with him in their haste._

_Ryan had opened his mouth and closed it as he tried to address the Doctor when the TARDIS began whirling through the time vortex. It wasn’t until they were settled that he approached her and presented what he’d acquired somewhat apologetically. He knew she didn’t like them taking anything from the planets they visited. Mostly because they couldn’t predict what threats they could possibly hold._

_“It’s alright,” The Doctor had said. “It was an accident. I’ll keep it safe.”_

_And that was how later on, the Doctor had found herself sat in the console room messing with the box, her curiosity burning. The three companions were stood chatting at the other side of the console when they heard the unnerving blast of alien technology. It sounded like a quick whoosh and all three humans stared at each other with confusion before running around the console to where the Doctor had been standing._

_Stood, cowering under the slope of the main console was a child who looked no older than five. She was wearing a striped tee, suspenders and blue cal-lots._

* * *

The girl had big hazel green eyes and slightly wavy blonde hair flowing to her shoulders.

“She didn’t...” Yaz raised her thumb and index finger to the bridge of her nose.

Before they could say another word, the child burst into tears, her small palms coming up to her face.

Yaz softened and dropped down to her level as she moved in front of the boys. “Whoa. Hey. Hey. It’s okay. Doc- What’s your name?”

The girl moved her hands away for a second to stare at the alien woman but only cried harder. “I don’t remember.”

Yaz paused for a second, wondering if this reflected their own Doctor’s elusive real name. She didn’t dwell on it further, there were so many issues with the logistics of this truly being her. Most importantly that the Doctor had said she’d never been female before. This was clearly a representation of her child self based on her current body. _Not_  the actual version. At least she hoped.

“Hey, it’s okay. Not to worry. I’m Yaz and that’s Graham and Ryan.” She pointed. “Do you know how you got here?”

The small girl shook her head as she sobbed. Yaz brought her hand up and rubbed her shoulder softly. “How old are you?”

“Five,” the girl barely whispered.

Yaz nodded. “I remember being five. It was a great age. Lots going on.” The tiny Doctor looked at her with interest. Anything other than crying seemed like progress so Yaz carried on speaking, telling anecdotes that she wasn’t sure were all true as it felt so long ago.

Ryan and Graham continued to stare in shock. If that was the Doctor, something had gone seriously wrong. And if it wasn’t, they seemed equally as in trouble as they had now acquired a five year old.

Ryan edged around the room and retrieved the box, now open that had slid across the console. The child distracted by Yaz, he analysed it, finding some kind of markings in the inner lid of the box. “There’s something here,” he said quietly to Graham.

The got to work trying to transfer the markings into the TARDIS database system as Yaz fully sat down on the TARDIS floor.

“Are you comfortable hunched over like that? You can come out if you want to? It’s safe. I promise.”

The child gave her a wary look and Yaz tried to ignore how utterly adorable it was. The child looked like a bitesize version of the alien she knew but with even larger features on her small face.

“You can trust me, sweetheart.” She outstretched her hand to the child but made no effort to move closer. She didn’t want to scare her.

Weighing up her options, the child relented, finally taking the stranger’s hand and stepping out.

“Look at you,” Yaz said softly, taking in her outfit in the light. “I love your outfit. My friend has one very similar.”

The child looked up with interest once again. It was clear she was a girl of few words. Yaz wondered whether she was extremely shy or whether her speech was a little underdeveloped.

“Yeah. She likes to travel across space. She’s a scientist and an explorer and many other things.”

The child’s jaw dropped in shock and Yaz smiled at her awe.

“Yeah she’s pretty special. Now, can I get you some juice or something? Or a snack?”

The child thought for a moment and then nodded, taking Yaz’s hand before she offered it. The companion smiled softly and nodded to her friends before leading the girl to the kitchen.

Finally, Graham had input the symbols and markings into the TARDIS and the sentient ship had offered a fact file on the mysterious box.

“Askaloidian Nurture Test. What the hell?” Graham exclaimed as he read.

‘ _To test whether the Askaloid in question is prepared to bear children, this test must be partaken. Askaloid #1 presses Jaran switch on test machine and Askaloid #2 will be transformed for a 24 hour period into an Askalo (or equivalent). To pass this test, no harm must come of Askalo child. Test must additionally be completed with Askaloid #1 as Askalo to be accepted. Then permission will be granted by the Bureaucracy of Askalonia to bear children. Results will be recorded throughout test. At the end of 24 hour period, Askalo will return to their original state with no harm or visual difference.’_

“Bloody Hell,” Graham said. “So the Doc’s been made into a child for some parenthood experiment?”

Ryan winced as he finished reading. This was a mess. “Looks like it. God, she’s gonna kill me when she’s back to normal. This is all my fault.”

“We need to tell Yaz. At least this is just twenty-four hours. I reckon we can keep a kid happy for that long.”

* * *

_Oh, how they were wrong..._

Three hours later and the tiny Doctor was screaming,having a full blown tantrum because she didn’t want to eat her dinner.

Yaz had her forehead on the table with exasperation as the girl continued to scream, angry wet tears falling onto her small cheeks.

“Did she even eat this food as a kid? Maybe it’s our fault,” Ryan said over the noise.

Yaz looked at the girl and her utter rage. At the end of the day, they had the child for twenty-four hours so perhaps having a meal with more than three vegetables in it wasn’t strictly necessary. She sighed and sat up.

“What would _you_ like to eat, kiddo? So we’ve got... Cheese pasta. Rice. Chips. Fish fingers...” The Doctor quieted and looked up at that. Yaz looked at her with fond exasperation. “Fish fingers it is.”

A short while later, the child was sat happily eating a small bowl of fish fingers and ketchup. Yaz was mostly just relieved she’d managed to get her to eat.

The first words in a couple of hours from the girl made every companion startle from their positions at the table. “Thank you,” the girl uttered softly.

Yaz half gaped half smiled with surprise. “I didn’t realise that you liked to talk.”

The girl shrugged softly and nodded. “Just a bit scary.”

“Oh, I know, honey.” Yaz said softly, the term slipping out from her police work with children. “I know this is really scary but we’re going to take care of you and keep you safe whilst you’re with us, okay?”

The child nodded and rubbed her eyes yawning. Yaz realised that in TARDIS time it was past eight and the child must be exhausted. “Let’s try get you into bed.” Yaz said. She recalled that  _her_ Doctor didn’t sleep often but she supposed a small growing Time Lord might need to.

Soon enough they were in the Doctor’s usual bedroom, galaxies plastered on the ceiling and a combination of steampunk and bohemian furnishings filling the rest of the room. Yaz smiled at the room, expecting nothing less.

After the assertion from Yaz that Yaz would wake them if anything was wrong, Ryan and Graham had gone to bed. Despite the little Doctor taking a shine to Yasmin most out of the companions, it didn’t mean that the others didn’t care or didn’t want to help the process go smoothly. They cared about the quirky child too.

The child was in pyjamas that actually fit her with stars on that the TARDIS had sweetly produced from the main console earlier that evening. Yaz had been warmed by the action, sure that the TARDIS was equally as concerned about her Doctor and wanting her to be as comfortable as possible.

“Can you help me with my teeth?” The girl asked, slowly growing more talkative as their time together went on. She’d stopped crying so much now but still seemed a little despondent. Yaz wished she could help her feel a little happier. She hoped that this would play no part in this hypothetical child’s memories but she worried it somehow could and she didn’t want the experience to have been traumatic.

“Of course.” Yaz smiled.

Once finished, the girl tentatively climbed up onto the Doctor’s double bed and lay down. Yaz watched as she played with her fingers for a few moments, clearly in deep thought about something. Yaz was just about to ask when she finally opened her mouth.

“Can I stay up? With you? Please?” Normally, she would’ve perceived this as a child trying to take advantage of a potential later bedtime but that didn’t feel to be the case with the girl’s tone.

“Why?”

The small girl tucked her blonde hair behind her ears and pouted as she considered what to say. Yaz thought it might be the cutest thing she’d ever seen and she suddenly felt a little broody. “I’m scared.”

With a sympathetic frown, Yaz reached out and stroked her hair tenderly. “Scared of what, love?”

“Monsters. The dark. The Daleks. Lots.” She frowned deeply. “I don’t want to sleep.”

“Do you have nightmares?”

The girl nodded, seemingly growing more tense as the moments passed.

“I get nightmares too, sometimes. It’s okay though, because there’s lots of ways to fend them away. Especially with fluffy animals and night lights to ward off any monsters.”

“That helps?” The child gaped in wonder.

Yaz stroked her cheek with her thumb and met her eye. “Absolutely.” She jumped up from where she was perched on the bed and switched on all the night lights she could see in the room, before turning the main light off. She was relieved to see the room was only marginally darker, now lit in warm orange hues as opposed to the white and blue of the main light.

It didn’t take long for Yaz to find the Doctor’s one and only cuddly toy, a soft but significantly worn bear with button eyes and velvet patches. The little Doctor clutched it tightly and smiled.

“Yaz?” The girl asked timidly. Yaz was surprised she’d found the confidence to say her name. She met her eye brightly. “Please will you stay with me?”

Yaz nodded and couldn’t help but stroke her soft hair again. “Of course. Let me go put on my pyjamas, I’ll be back in a sec.”

When she returned, the child was still in the same position waiting and the police woman was reminded of how timid she was.

“Let’s snuggle up and hopefully you’ll be able to get some sleep,” Yaz said as she got under the covers and opened her arm out for the child. The little Doctor quickly shuffled over and rest her head on Yasmin’s shoulder, small arms wrapping around her.

“I normally have my brothers,” The girl said quietly. “But they’re not here.” Her eyes began to fill with tears and Yaz immediately cooed, trying to calm her before she started crying fully.

“It’s okay. You’ll see them soon. We’ll get you back home tomorrow, I promise.” She stroked her little cheek softly. “Why don’t you tell me about them?”

And so she did. The child told Yasmin about her five brothers. How they kept her safe and each had different characters. She told Yaz which she was closest to and which she merely tolerated. One thing, that kept reoccurring however, was the Time War.

“Sweetheart,” Yaz eventually asked quietly. “What’s the Time War?”

The girl frowned and shifted uncomfortably. “It’s already happening. The Daleks are already attacking. They gonna kill us all.” Her eyes grew teary again and Yaz rubbed her shoulder. What the Hell happened when the Doctor was a child? Was it still going on now? Was that why she never talked about her planet?

“I’m sure everything will be okay. Don’t you worry, okay? Your family will keep you safe and you’re safe here.” Yaz did her best to comfort her.

The girl nodded but her brow was still furrowed. The girl seemed to have the weight of the world on her shoulders, far too much for any child to deal with.

She dropped a kiss in the girl’s hair without even thinking. She didn’t realise until after how strange that might be. She just wanted to protect this child and she was also projecting her fondness for _her_  Doctor. But she wouldn’t have kissed the adult version on the head. Would she?

Soon enough, Yaz heard the child’s breaths even out and her tight grip on her nightshirt slightly loosened. She rubbed the girl’s back as she slept and contemplated everything she’d learnt.

The Doctor had siblings? A real family? And it seemed like this war was rather major. Perhaps it had wiped out her planet. She’d heard the phrase “last of the Time Lords” thrown around once or twice on their travels and she’d always wondered if it were true. She couldn’t imagine how lonely that might be.

She’d already decided to take everything with a pinch of salt however, as who knew how accurate this representation was to her Doctor.

Soon enough, Yaz was swept away by her thoughts and she fell into an anxious rest.

* * *

They were sat eating breakfast the following morning, the little Doctor still in her pyjamas. She was still quiet but seemed somewhat more relaxed than the day before.

“Ryan?” The girl asked, making him look up from his toast with surprise. “Is Yaz your wife?”

He almost spat out his food as he laughed. “No. No. Not at all.”

The girl frowned. “Why not?”

“Um.” Ryan laughed and looked from Yaz to Graham. “Well, she’s my friend for one.”

“Can you not marry a friend?” She looked wounded.

Yaz smiled at her softly. “We don’t like each other like that, sweetie.”

The girl nodded. “Can I marry you then?”

Graham’s eyes lit up with humour. This was getting better and better. Ryan chuckled and looked at his dumbfounded friend.

“Maybe if you were much older.”

The girl looked around at the men laughing and the sympathetic expression on Yaz’s face and burst into tears of shame.

“Oh no, honey,” Yaz reached for her, putting her hand on her shoulder. She got off her seat and moved over to crouch in front of the child. “It’s not because I don’t think you’reabsolutely amazing. It’s just because you’re so young and children aren’t old enough to make decisions like who to marry.”

“No one’s ever going to marry me.” She sobbed.

Yaz looked at the men helplessly as she pulled the girl into a hug.

“Of course they will!” Graham said quickly. “I’m sure you’ll have queues of people wanting to marry you one day!”

Ryan nodded. “He’s right. You’re brilliant and people always want to marry brilliant people.”

The girl’s sobbing slowed and she pulled away from Yaz, rubbing her red eyes. Yaz felt awful, she’d broken this tiny child’s heart and it was her best friend nonetheless.

“I think we’re much better as best friends. Don’t you?”

The girl shrugged and got down from the table. “I’m gonna go play.” With that, she left the room in her little pyjamas and walked to the living room that Yaz had shown her the evening before.

“Oh my god,” Yaz put her head in her hands the second she was gone. Graham stepped around and rubbed her shoulder. “Her face! I feel terrible.”

“Why didn’t you just say yes?” Ryan asked.

“Don’t make me feel bad about it! I- it was supposed to be a teachable moment. Not a soul crushing one. I feel awful. That’s  _our_  Doctor. And I hurt her.”

“We don’t know that she’s ours,” Ryan tried to reason. “Ours could be trapped somewhere and this could be a very realistic recreation.”

“She’s ours.” Yaz said. “She was telling me about life on Gallifrey last night.”

Graham raised his eyebrows. “She was?”

Yaz nodded. “Something about a Time War. She was trembling. Even the thought of it scared her to death.”

“You think it’s real?” Ryan asked.

“Well, has she ever spoken about her planet?” Graham asked. “This could be the reason.”

Yaz ran her hands through her hair and put her plate and the little Doctor’s uneaten food in the sink. “I’m gonna go see if she’s alright. Do you guys fancy watching a film in a little while?”

* * *

The policewoman wandered into the living room and found the small child sat with her knees up, fiddling with a small car. Yaz didn’t know the TARDIS had such an array of toys to offer but clearly it had produced them all for the little child.

The girl looked subdued still and Yaz felt her chest ache.

“Hey, sweetie. Can we talk?”

The girl looked at her and shrugged.

Yaz took that to mean yes, so she moved and sat in front of her with crossed legs. “I’ve loved spending time with you while you’ve been here. I think you’re a really special kid and I think you’re very unique in a brilliant way. You’re extremely loveable, you know?”

The girl looked at her and nodded. She settled back against the sofa behind her back.

“You’re very quiet today?”

“You’re my favourite person and you said you don’t like me.”

Yaz’s eyes almost filled with tears at the hurt and conviction in her voice but she managed to blink them away. So much of how the child behaved seemed to reflect their own Doctor’s insecurities. Her unspoken fears of abandonment and over-attachment. It all seemed too real and Yaz just wanted to promise the Doctor, and this child, that she wasn’t going anywhere.

“I so do.” Yaz said. “I think there’s been a big misunderstanding, kiddo. If you were a grown up, you would be the ideal person to marry. You’d be my first pick. But because you’re still little, it’s not possible for you to marry anyone. You’re too young. That’s why I said no, okay? I didn’t say no because I don’t like you. I think you’re amazing.”

The girl finally understood and nodded, a small smile on her lips.

“Now, how about we watch some films?”

* * *

The little Doctor was finally perfectly content as she sat on Yaz’s lap, sharing the sofa with Graham and Ryan. Ryan had offered the child could sit with him but she’d completely ignored the offer, wordlessly climbing up onto

Yaz’s lap and making all three companions laugh softly. A large blanket covered them all as they watched the end of _Over the Hedge_.

All three companions watched the clock with one eye as four p.m hit. They didn’t know the exact time but it was around now twenty-four hours ago that she’d been changed into the child.

Yaz’s arms were loosely around her waist as they sat and she couldn’t help but feel a little sad at the thought of losing the child. She hoped that this was just a projection or estimation of the Doctor as a child and not the real thing because this child seemed full of fears. Part of her wished they could just keep her on board and protect her from her whatever was apparently going on on Gallifrey. But they needed their Doctor back.

Yaz had just noticed the small box in the corner of the room when a sudden whoosh and a flash stunned them all. Yaz felt rather than saw the weight in her lap change as the child was replaced with the woman she came to know and love. Thankfully, she was in her usual clothes also.

“Oh my goodness,” The Doctor huffed, leaning back against Yaz with feigned exhaustion. “Was that a feat or was that a feat?”

Yaz stared in shock. “Doctor!” She grinned, her hands on her hips.

“Welcome back, Doc!” Ryan grinned. Graham seemed overjoyed too.

The Doctor sat up from where she was leaning against her companion and jumped up. “Sorry, Yaz!”

“It’s alright— are you okay? Did you see all that or did it take you somewhere?”

“See all what? I was in a box for twenty four hours!”

Ryan’s jaw dropped. “You don’t know what happened?”

Just then the box slid into the middle of the room and a hologram appeared. The Doctor stepped back in surprise and sat on the arm of the sofa beside Yaz. She gaped as a small virtual image of a little girl wearing her clothing appeared followed by masses of text and numbers.

“That’s our points,” Yaz exclaimed quietly as they read.

“Points? What points?” The Doctor stared with confusion. She looked closer at the girl on the left and it suddenly clicked. “Is that supposed to be me? This body’s me? As a child?” Her eyes widened and Yaz reached out to rest a hand on her forearm in comfort.

“Don’t worry. It was just twenty-four hours and everything went okay,” Yaz said. The Doctor stared at her, then Graham, then Ryan- stunned.

“But was it actually _me_  me. Or just any child who looked like me?” Her mind was running a mile a minute.

“That’s what we were trying to figure out,” Graham said. “Yaz said that she spoke about your past though. Said things that you haven’t. So it might have been actual you.”

The Doctor froze. Surely she hadn’t said her name. But what if she had? She can’t have done. The course of history would have changed in an instant. She’d know if that name had been uttered.

“Doctor, she didn’t say a lot,” Yaz said, noticing her friend’s fidgety discomfort. “There wasn’t any cause for alarm. We don’t even need to discuss it if you don’t want.”

“Can we chat? Later? Would love to know what the child had to say about my past. I can’t figure out this technology. Whether it was a simulation or they created a child. Or stole one. Stole me from that moment in time.”

“Well, didn’t you say you’re the first female now? When you regenerate... Are you born? Or are you a set age when you get your body?”

“Set biological age. You’re right. I was a boy. But this thing, this crazy technology,” The Doctor said as she shone her sonic at it, “It could have taken my soul and put it into its own interpretation. I probably did a right number on it with the regenerations. Askaloids don’t have those.”

They sat back for a moment reading the files.

“Yikes.” The Doctor grimaced. “Lots of crying...And lots of Yaz. Where were you two!?” She exclaimed at the men.

“You didn’t want us!” Graham protested. “It was the Yaz show from start to finish! You refused to speak unless it was her!”

The Doctor blushed and smiled, absently patting her companion’s arm. They carried on reading, every situation laid out and every technique they had used to deal with it.

When they all got to the part about bedtime and Yaz comforting the child against nightmares, about Gallifrey and Daleks and Time Wars, The Doctor’s eyes teared up.

“You didn’t have to do that,” she said. “You could’ve just left me to sleep.”

Yaz looked at her emotional friend and rubbed her back. “You really think I would’ve left a scared five-year-old alone to sleep?”

They continued reading, Yaz’s hand remaining on her back and eventually they reached the day’s breakfast scenario. Ryan burst out laughing as he reread it. The all too detailed text even included Yaz’s guilt meltdown and the child’s stubborn sulking afterward, making the Doctor beet red with embarrassment.

“This couldn’t have gone much worse for little me,” The Doctor’s face scrunched. “And I don’t think she could’ve physically done more to embarrass me.”

“Oh come on,” Yaz laughed and shook her head. “It was cute. I was very very flattered. Especially by the duration of the heartache. It was a slight boost to the ego- _if_  somewhat soul-crushing. It was hard to see such a cute kid upset.”

“You took really, really good care of her,” The Doctor said. “Of me, I think. It seems like the soul was me.So thank you, Yaz. All of you,” she glanced at the others for a moment. “But mostly Yaz.”

Yaz’s heart warmed at her words and she rolled her eyes fondly. “Ya big softie.” She took the Doctor’s hand and pulled her from the arm of the couch into her lap, making the woman laugh. The Doctor wrapped an arm loosely around Yaz’s shoulders as she rest her legs on top of her other two companions’.

“Shall we read our final score?”Yaz asked. They reached out and moved the page down, finding the tally of percentages at the bottom.

“ _64%_!” Ryan outraged. “What! We were amazing! We deserve a hundred!”

They looked at all of the penalties listed and the Doctor couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that most of them consisted of Yaz relenting to the little Doctor’s pout or not enforcing strict enough boundaries.

“Could you be mean to that face!?” She outraged to the woman on her lap. They looked at the image again of the girl’s soft features. She still looked remarkably like the Doctor. Just a littler version.

Ryan narrowed his eyes as a few things clicked. Suddenly noticing the closeness of the women, he wondered how he’d been so blind. His childhood friend clearly had feelings for the woman.

Yaz watched him stare and narrowed his eyes. She was even more suspicious when he announced that he was tired by the day’s events and wanted to hang out in his room.

Graham got up too, seemingly oblivious to whatever silent dynamics were going on, in favour of wanting a relaxing TARDIS swim. That left just Yaz and the Doctor, now perhaps oddly close for just the two of them to be in the room.

The Doctor leaned back against the arm of the couch as she sat sideways in Yaz’s lap. It dawned on Yaz that this was perhaps the closest they’d ever been.

“Thank you, for this, Yaz. For everything, seriously. And thank you for not asking too many questions. I know it must have been difficult at times. Especially because she was upset. But you chose my privacy above all else and I really appreciate that.”

A moment of utter seriousness from the Doctor always took Yaz off guard but especially now. “I knew that a five-year-old version of you would be quite drastically more open than your adult self so I did my best. I did ask about what she was afraid of though. You must have read.”

The Doctor nodded. “I suppose you want an explanation.”

Yaz shifted slightly so she could look at her better. “Only if you want to. You don’t owe me anything for this, yeah? I know you would’ve done the same for me.”

“Oh! _Little Yasmin Khan_! We messed up big time! That would’ve been the cutest!” 

“Do you not think that a tiny Doctor in space themed pyjamas was the cutest! When she pouted, I nearly died. Or cried. I also found out that I really don’t like seeing you cry.”

The Doctor laughed fondly and dropped her head down onto her friend’s shoulder.

Silence soon elapsed and the Doctor realised she’d accidentally diverted them away from the question.

“About what she said. What I said, I guess...” The Doctor puffed out her cheeks. “My home planet, Gallifrey, was embroiled in a Time War with the Daleks for millennia. It ultimately ended with the destruction of my planet in its entirety. I wasn’t there at the time. I was on my eleventh regeneration.”

“Doctor,” Yaz stared in shock. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.”

“So that girl really was you? Your soul at that age. That pain?”

The Doctor nodded. “Like every other Gallifreyan child. But I’m one of a small handful that made it.”

“That’s an unbearably heavy legacy to uphold,” Yaz said with anguish. She felt like she was seeing an entirely new woman. Or just understanding the Doctor for the first time.

“I’ve done my best. The other planets, the surrounding ones, they documented what was going on. And it’s conclusion. They’ve recorded my planet’s history in detail. So it’s not just my burden.”

Yaz nodded. “I’m glad.” She couldn’t believe that everything the child was saying was true. That her fear was entirely warranted and genuine.

“This is why I don’t like to talk about it,” The Doctor said shyly. “This— this sadness and grief- shared. It changes things. I don’t like it bringing the mood down. I especially don’t like people seeing me and thinking of loss.”

“I’d never just associate you with loss. There’s millions of incredible aspects that make up your identity that I’d always think of first. You don’t have to hold back anything from me.”

The Doctor stared at her for a moment fondly. She leaned forward a placed a lasting kiss on Yaz’s forehead as thanks. It’s duration however changed the atmosphere in the room and Yasmin’s eyes flickered with realisation.

She wasn’t sure how it happened, but suddenly their lips were together. Yaz cupped her jaw as she held her close, afraid that without her hands she could just slip away.

The Doctor smiled against her lips before they pulled away and rest her forehead against Yasmin’s, catching her breath.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that, Yasmin Khan.”

“I could say the same about you, Doctor.” Yaz blushed as they slowly pulled away.

When Ryan found them hours later, the pair were asleep on the sofa, bodies curled around one another with a soft blanket atop them. The light from the fireplace illuminated the room in a soft glow and Ryan didn’t think he’d ever seen the Doctor look so at peace.

He smiled and shut the door.

* * *

 


End file.
